Rangers-Hurricanes in review

1) A lot of guys did a lot of work on Derek Stepan’s goals — and I’m certainly not marginalizing his part in each of them — especially Chris Kreider battling in front to keep the puck alive on the PPG and to get it back on the second. I’ll say the same thing about Stepan that I said earlier about Derick Brassard: That’s why these guys have to shoot the puck. They both have very good shots. But too often look to make a play. Good for Stepan. He kind of said he had been coming back, and had been forced to pick up his pace because of Kreider and Mats Zuccarello. (sorry, I meant THE Kreider).

2) Liking the little Italian Kid from Norway on the PK. He also made a terrific takeaway before the PPG.

3) Carl Hagelin has had stretches like this before, where he looks like a legit top-six forward. I’m not sure if he is or isn’t, because that’s really based on whether he can produce more consistently. He had a stretch like this — only longer — last season too. His speed, skill and instincts are good enough for him to play top six. Can he produce enough to be that?

4) John Moore — like a lot of Rangers including Brassard and Stepan and some of the D-men and the goalies — got off to a bad start this season. But, man, he’s really come on since then.

5) The “other” job had me on the road for the first period, when I had the pleasure — and I don’t get the opportunity enough — to listen to Dave Maloney’s analysis on the radio. Maloney was going on about how the Rangers weren’t accomplishing much at all because they weren’t making plays or good passes out of their own end and through the neutral zone. Then, bang, they make one and Hagelin scores to make it 1-0. I went to the DVR and watched the period later and, of course, Maloney was right. Dead on. As usual.

6) And by the way, with ESPN radio now on FM, I was actually able to hear it loud and clear from quite a bit north of NYC.

7) One more thing about the radio. Hall of Fame defenseman Mark Howe was the between periods guest. He has seen a lot of the Rangers already as Detroit’s Eastern scout. He said A) that the Rangers’ top six defensemen are probably as good a group as there is in the NHL and B) that he expects the Rangers to be “right there at the end of the season and into the playoffs.”

8) Henrik Lundqvist looked comfortable, and continues to look more comfortable, every night.

9) That low-bridge thrown by the kid Murphy at Derek Dorsett’s knees? I don’t blame Dorsett one bit for being ticked off. And this idea that the rook’s not a dirty player, OK. But that’s a filthy play. It wasn’t even a hip check or a clip. He went to his hands and knees. That easily could have been a double-ACL wreck. I don’t blame Dorsett for being mad. I do blame him for taking a dumb penalty later. Geez. Hit the guy hard, don’t slap him in the face.

10) I thought Marc Staal had a fabulous game again. But, did you guys know that he has brothers who also play hockey?

11) I saw a lot of gliders again on the visiting team, just like Buffalo.

13) How about the news that Buffalo put Patrick Kaleta on waivers (apparently for the purpose of sending him to the minors to rehabilitate his game — and good luck with that)?

14) Philly writers who vote for three stars embarrassed themselves for giving Ray (Assault and Battery) Emery a star after a 7-0 loss in which his performance was, at best, cowardly. Another reason I don’t vote for stars at the arena anymore.

15) Hey, MSG, your team won three in a row, four of five. How about a post-game show? One quote from the Rangers coach’s presser? But let’s examine the Buffalo Sabres, Philly Flyers, Islanders, Devils, and everybody but …

I watched the game a second time. The second time with the Carolina feed. Quite a bit different. different cameras too.

Rangers almost scored a few more goals. That game didn’t seem near as close the second time. This team can score some goals.

I always thought John Moore was a good skater and was never really down on his game. I said from the onset that the Gaborik trade made the Rangers a better team. We will see.

Hagelin doesn’t need to score all the time to have a positive impact. He makes the defense backup so fast I start laughing. On the forecheck, that extra second he takes off of decision making times has a noticeable effect. Of course the goals are awesome too.

Kreider just needs to keep doing the same thing. The suddenness of his turnaround is really remarkable. Once he starts doing that against a few other teams, it will be big NHL news. He will probably get better too.

I since I moved down to florida I have to watch on nhl instead of msg and usually see the the other teams feed .
The Carolina announcers were saying Ranfers got the better deal in the Gaborik trade and they the gushing all over Henrik calling him the crem de la crem of goaltenders .
John Moore had a rocket of a shot that I think hit post ,
Welcome back to the nhl Stephan , and the Krieder looked good again

Bull Dog…I don’t think that would be bad. However, Pouliout and Hags are just so fast together. I dunno…it just seems that AVs system is working.

Moore was flying…
Hagelin was finishing…
Pyatt was trying…

They played a decent team with a goalie that stinks, but the D did a good job. They’re gonna have to beat some good teams to get me invested more, however…they’re having success without Cally and Nash with balanced lines. Good news!

I got the feeling that Carolina is one of those good-but-lazy teams, a la the Caps late in Boudreau’s reign. They didn’t get many opportunities to forecheck but when they did, it looked effective (well, against our puck-movement-challenged D). Maybe they don’t like Kirk Muller?

RE: Hagelin points- The kid has only played a little over 100 NHL games (not including playoffs). He’s definitely struggled with consistency but the same argument could have been made about Stepan his first two years in the league. The biggest difference there is that Stepan played a ton of top 6 minutes and a fair amount of them with Gaborik.
his speed makes him so dangerous. It would be a huge lift for this team if he could keep his game from bottoming out this year.

6 points out of the last 6 up for grabs. I know the skeptics around here want to down play it as nothing to draw conclusions from. When they lose a game – now that will be something that can really be harped on : D

Maloney is, as you say, so great. He’s critical, honest and always correct. The one day they let him on television to fill in for Jay Gee MSG was lovely. I always throw him on between periods. Guys a gem.

Kreider is a very good passer, and plays really well on the boards. Boyle has not scored a goal, and this year I don’t care. last season he was just awful. this year I think he has played really well. his shifts have been very effective, and he does not have regular line mates.

Consistency-wise, THE Kreider has been their best forward during this winning stretch. On that 4th goal ( back breaker since Carolina started to buzz a little after they made it 3-1), he not only helped to get the puck back to MZA for his pretty pass, but long before that he made a very cool play in our own zone to break the cycle. He made the first pass which help them get out of their zone.

Carolina? How about E.Staal ( $9.25M), Semin ($7M), J. Staal ( brothers?, $6M,) Ruutu ($5M) etc? The point is, it doesn’t matter if you have porous defense and no goaltender. Yeah, let’s nickel and dime Hank.

is it possible that the Cally, and Nash injuries end up helping the team in the end? maybe by the time they get back, Kreider has established himself as a regular player. without the injuries this may not happen. so goes for Miller. though he has struggled a bit.

Oh please, DJK. Vigneault sent The Kreider to the AHL as well and if not for some unfortunate injuries to the leagues brittle at iron men The Kreider might be dining at Max’s Oyster Bar in Hartford, CT.

I got to watch the game the 2nd time around without emotion butting in, and Richards was invisible with the exception of 1 shift at 7:50 of the 3rd period. MDZ, I don’t know what his “major malfunction” is, simple plays turn into, oh put your comment here. Strallman and Boyle were quite good actually. I know they are both the whipping boys of the blog, but… Another whipping boy, Pyatt was well Pyatt, I don’t know what people expect of him, he’s nice and steady(and slow).

Stralman is what he is. You can do worse. #5-6 guys on most teams are the #5-6 guys for a reason. If you replace him it’s by moving someone down after completing a big deal to get a top 4 guys. So a current top 4 gets moved down. Trading for another middle of the pack guy is just spinning wheels.

I have to say that I am feeling a lot more optimistic about this team than I did 2 weeks ago. They *can actually score goals* and generate offense. The system of AV is taking hold and it is a nice style of hockey to play and watch. It is a joy to see Stepan thriving with Hobbit and The Kreider, two guys he has had success with in the past. PS: Great review, Carp.

14) Emery not suspended for his role in the line farce against the Caps. Way to go, NHL, ever determined to hold on to its “almost a major sport” status. Laughable the degree to which these Canadian neanderthals don’t believe in their product, that the sport’s somehow not fast enough, skillful enough or tough enough to hold fans’ interest without all this WWF business. The power of inertia, I guess, but note that football, a far tougher sport, will have none of it.

Admittedly, not a Del Z fan – He just seems slow: skating, decision making, shot release etc..cant explain it – still think his draft position was greatly helped by playing with Stamkos for some time..

Strals is basically an O defenseman by nature. If our forwards step up and do some scoring, he can concentrate more on D and function acceptably as a 5/6. He’s slight, though, (no fault of his own) and is often mangled by big teams.

Based on your evaluation stated @ 12:09, I guess what you are suggesting Wick is that McIlrath should be paired with Staal immediately and Strallman paired with Moore. Interesting. Split up the pairs during the winning stretch the team is on? I wouldn’t.

The only time I have seen McIlrath play against NHL caliber talent was in pre-season. He must have improved substantially at Hartford if he can now be slotted in at # 4 on the depth chart.

One thing the NHL does pretty well is the GameCenter Live app is pretty awesome. Aside from the occasional blackout frustration where I have to watch the game on NHL Network, the service works really flawlessly on every device. Apparently lots of people are really, really upset with the NBA equivalent because it sucks:http://deadspin.com/5956559

Spot on as always Carp. I too enjoy Maloney more than anyone else on the MSG network. Kreider, Hagelin, SPEED KILLS. Man what a difference some speed on this team makes, and it is speed with a purpose. Some real tests this week ahead, so it was nice to get the points that we SHOULD get. I am going next Sunday against the Panthers. Anyone else going?

So if Mash is only going to play 4 minutes per game, why nit give Kristo a taste of the NHL? Is letting him play a game or two instead of Mashinter that risky? They might get a few goals out him. Oh well at this point it looks like he would only get a game or two before Cally is back. Just a thought.

True on Mash. But he played under 5 minutes the previous two games he played. We need a player like him but just not sure that’ he’s able to fill that role. His skating is bad and as a result his misses a lot of opportunities to finish checks or lay really big hits.

You can watch them on your phone, tablet, computer, or TV if you have a set top device like an Apple TV or a Roku. It’s all included in the package. You don’t have to be at home. I pretty routinely watch games on my phone when I’m on the train for example.

Its nice to have a coach that takes responsibility for his mistakes and doesn’t throw players under the bus.

Usually, under previous coaching regime, games like the one last night would probably be tied at 1-1 going into OT, where Rangers made every effort to make Peters look like Patrick Roy in his prime… i guess when you let players play and don’t punish them for every little mistake positive things happen.

” i guess when you let players play and don’t punish them for every little mistake positive things happen.” As a Torts supporter that thinks he got the best out of the rosters he had, ditto. His failings were Gaborik’s departure and THE KreiderAdd Your Comment

carp–maybe the philly writer who voted emery third star did it as a protest…after all,the three stars are the ones who contribute to a victory…his goaltending certainly was a factor in the caps win…but,with the philly mentality,whoknows

Two different coaching staffs have moved Strallman from the 3rd pair to the 2nd pair in consecutive seasons, in fact it took AV all of 3 games todo so.

The reality: He is a 2nd pair dMan onnthis team who is making $1.7 million against the Cap. Considering the minutes he plays and comparing him dollar/cap wise with what other teams are spending on their top 4 DMen, Strallman is a Cap Bargain, iwhether or not you may agree with where the coaches have him slotted on this team.

Considering that on this team he is in the 2nd pair, the argument they could do better cap wise and get the same play out of McIlrath in that slot is far fetched, especially based on McIlraths pre-season performance. Remember, this is a team that is paying a 3rd Pair DMAN who has been a healthy scratch $2.55M this year. Strallman a Cap burden? Ridiculous.

Papa,
You are IMHO selective reading and it isn’t only your Norris trophy pick that is a bit over priced, but coupled with mdz, that is over 4 mil in salary for arguably a bottom pair of d men. Again in my opinion those two can be replaced for half the money without any significant drop off in play.

Btw, if we use your “pre season” performance argument, kreider would not be here!

Deb asks Parise if he remembers the goal he scored about MTL when his stick broke and had to retrieve another one from the bench. Parise says yes, and then Deb asks him what he remembers about it. WTB? You just told him what happened!